Bowser's Fury - Review

 Face the fury, save the cats!

Console: Nintendo Switch

Just last week I took a look at Super Mario 3D World for the Switch but as I think you’re well aware, that version of the game comes with something extra: Bowser’s Fury. An add-on that serves as a sequel to the main game of sorts while simultaneously being something of a proof of concept for an open-world-like Mario. One that has a darker tone, with lots of rain and lightning and this scary-looking Bowser in a world full of cutesy cats and cat aesthetics.

Yeah, it’s pretty hard to nail down what Bowser’s Fury is, except ‘odd’. Still, Bowser’s Fury caught people off guard when Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury was announced during the Mario 35th anniversary direct and the main reason why people talked about the title at all. Yeah, it seemed like an odd-duck but it also looked like something different for the red plumber.

Now that I’ve had the chance to play it, yeah, Bowser’s Fury is indeed an odd-duck of a Mario experience that is nonetheless a lot of fun that gives the package some extra grit even if it very much feels like proof of concept more than it does a full-fledged experience.

Let’s dive in.

While out on a walk Mario comes across some weird splotches of paint on the ground. Splotches of paint that promptly pulls Mario inside. The portal drops Mario in the archipelago of cat-themed islands that is Lake Lapcat with a giant Bowser amidst a thunderstorm stomping about in a constant state of fury. After collecting a Cat shine, which repels Fury Bowser,  Bowser Jr. appears to plead to Mario (in his own way) to help him return Bowser to normal and the two set out to do just that.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the story in this Mario game is non-existent. It’s implied that the events of Bowser’s Fury take place after those of 3D World, that when Bowser was blasted off ala Team Rocket this is where he landed, but the emphasis here is on ‘implied’.

No, it's the mood, atmosphere and setting that set the tone. And what a different tone for a Mario game that is! With its dark and rainy opening, the threatening black sludge, the giant black Bowser and the music: it’s all a lot more threatening than you’d think while remaining family-friendly. It’s still bright and colourful with lots of cat imagery. From the Cat shines to the enemies having cat features to the geography itself. Nearly everything you see is cat themed.

This contrast between the darker and scarier Fury Bowser sections and the rest of the bright, and full of cats Lake Lapcat but it’s not a big issue by any means. Just something peculiar.

Gameplay-wise, you can describe Bowser’s Fury as a typical sandbox 3D Mario with some elements that make it reminiscent of an open-world title. Lake Lapcat is one big area without any loading screens that you can explore at your leisure filled with micro-challenges that reward you with collectables AKA the Cat Shines. These micro-challenges are, for the most part, tied to the islands that make up the archipelago and has a similar set. You first get to the light tower, there is a blue coin challenge etc. Some challenges only show up when you’ve finished another but by and large, you can tackle each island’s challenges in whatever order you like. If you can’t find that last cat token on an island you can come back to it anytime without having to recollect those other 4 tokens.

Lake Lapcat can be freely explored and with Plessie as your mount, you can get from one island to the next in no time at all.

If the game wasn’t so short this repeated structure might’ve made things grow repetitive and grading but thanks to the game's short length that doesn’t happen instead, the freedom this structure gives you keep it fun and non-taxing throughout. Another bit of freedom the game gives you lies with the powerups. You can now stockpile up to 5 power-ups of each type and you can activate them with a press of a button.

This simple change, well, changes the game for power-ups. In the past, they’ve too often been situational trinkets. Now though they’re now a tool, a part of your skillset, that you can use whenever and however you want. You could cat that cat shine through a series of intricate and well-timed jumps are you could work your way up that cliff and then use the Tanooki suit to ‘glide’ down to it. A small change that leads to a big win in my book!

Lest I forget: you’re not alone in this adventure. Bowser Jr. joins you and does more than just be bratty: he’ll help you out on your journey. He’ll use his paintbrush to attack enemies, point out places with secrets and find power-ups. You can also use the pointer to direct Bowser Jr. to manually let him attack enemies, find secrets and even collect Cat Tokens (not shines: tokens). Bowser Jr. is fun help that at times is just full-on broken.

His assists are nice and the ability to set how much he helps you, from not at all to a lot, gives flexibility in how you want your experience to be. It’s broken in that when you use him to collect a token, you bypass the entire challenge. Oh, and a 2nd player can take control of Bowser Jr. for some light couch co-op, for how much that’s worth.

Every few minutes Fury Bowser will wake up from his slumber and start attacking Mario. When this happens, the music goes all metal, the rain starts and the sky goes dark. When awake Fury Bowser will attack Mario with his fire breath and rain fireballs at you. The Fury Bowser sections are a lot of fun. Yeah, you don’t always want to deal with Fury Bowser when he shows up and there have been times when I wished he would’ve just remained sleeping a little longer. Even so, the tension in the atmosphere he brings is more fun than annoying.

How do you defeat something so big? You defeat this giant Bowser by using the Giga Bells, the reason you collect all those Cat Shines. When you’ve collected enough, these bells will awaken and then when Fury Bowser comes out to play, you can grab them to become a Giant Cat Mario and fight Fury Bowser ala Kaiju style. It’s pretty darn cool!

Now that's a cool Bowser battle the likes of which we haven't seen before!

Fury Bowser is a tad more difficult than the other enemies in the game. As in I’ve lost to him once. No biggie though: there are no lives so you just lose 50 coins and get sent back to the beginning of the fight.

Graphic and performance-wise, well, it’s the same as 3D World. It runs on that engine and reuses nearly all of its assets in one form or another. The chance here lies in the open-world nature of the environment. While it does take quite a bit for Lake Lapcat to load when you boot the game up but when you got it going, the game runs smoothly.

Conclusion

Bowser’s Fury is an interesting little addition to the Super Mario 3D World Switch port. A proof of concept for an ´open-world' Mario game that's short but sweet. Fun gameplay with some nice changes and a thrilling atmosphere. It’s very short though, at around 4-5 hours which is understandable and keeps most of its flaws from becoming actual problems but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The short length helps the experience this way, keeping things from overstaying their welcome.

Even so, that’s nothing that can’t be improved upon! This new approach fits Mario well, a new branch of the series that could merge the 2D and 3D style games as stuff like the power-ups in a 3D setting works a lot better than I would’ve thought. With some extra work, we could see something great come from Bowser’s Fury.